The premise of FreeAllMusic.com is very simple: view an ad, download a song. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:
Richard Nailling, the company’s CEO, has been selling the idea to advertisers and music labels, including Universal Music Group, one of the world’s biggest music companies. Lionsgate Films, Warner Bros., LG and Zappos have signed up to advertise. So has Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co., which intends to evaluate the results after an initial test phase.
FreeAllMusic acts as a broker between advertisers, music labels and fans. Advertisers such as Coca-Cola pay the company for a package that includes placement of their ads. The advertisers agree to buy songs on users’ behalf from the studios that have made their songs available. At the end of the month, FreeAllMusic settles the accounts.
To get a song, users must first choose which brand will sponsor the download by, say, clicking on the Coke or LG logo.
It may not stem the tide of pervasive illegal music downloading, but you can’t get something for nothing and expect it to last long. This may be a solution.
